Forest Knowledge Know-how Well-being A lasting foundation for the well-being and prosperity of the Finnish people.

A lasting foundation for the well-being and prosperity of the Finnish people

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Metla’s tasks and functions

Metla• conducts research and generates research information

• serves the information end-users and acts as an expert in a wide range of forest-related statistical, monitoring and inspection tasks

• is responsible for forest-tree breeding at the national level, and conducts research in forest genetics

• performs the tasks assigned to it as a state authority

• publishes research results and serves information users

Main Research Areas

• entrepreneurial and business activity based on forests

• forests and the community • sustainable silvicultural chains • a forest economy- and forest

environment -based knowledge pool

Research management

The Research Directors are coordinating, developing and steering Metla's research activities.

The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) has a broad scientific mandate to advise Metla by: reviewing Metla's strategic goals and focus areas in relation to other research

organisations, making initiatives on new research directions and research program areas, reviewing the quality and relevance of the scientific and technical information

produced by Metla, promoting relevance and scientific impact of Metla's research internationally, promoting co-operation and networking with other leading international forest

research organisations, and promoting Metla as a reliable producer of scientific knowledge and collaborator.

Research Programmes• Renewing wood product value chains

and timber procurement solutions (2009-2013)

• Welfare effects of forests (2008-2012)

• Cost-efficiency and quality in silvicultural operations (2007-2011)

• Functioning of forest ecosystems and use of forest resources in changing climate (2007-2011)

• Bioenergy from Forest (2007-2011)

• Production forestry in drained peatlands (2007-2011)

Organisation

Metla’s UnitsRegional Units

Southern Finland Regional unit. The central is Vantaa.

Western Finland Regional unit. The central is Parkano.

Eastern Finland Regional unit. The central is Joensuu.

Northern Finland Regional unit. The central is Rovaniemi.

Metla’s management and concern services are located in Vantaa

Metla’s whole personnel is about 700over 350 of them are researchers

Southern Finland Regional UnitVantaa Research Unit is the central of Southern Regional Unit.

Vantaa conducts research of biological and technical sciences and forest genetics and tree breedingas well as research of social and economical sciences

Southern Regional Unit includes also tree breeding station in Haapastensyrjä as well as research units in Evo, Solböle and Tuorla.

Metla has research forests in Lapinjärvi, Preitilä, Ruotsinkylä, Solböle and Vesijako.

In Ruotsinkylä and Solböle the public has free access to go hiking in research forests.

Western Finland Regional Unit

The Parkano research forest is characterised by a high proportion of relatively nutrient-poor peatlands, whereas the Vilppula research forest is famous for its fertile mineral soils.

The central of regional unit is Parkano. Other places of business are Kannus, Vilppula and Multia

Parkano research unit initially concentrated on research on into peatlands and peatland forestry as well as topics related e.g. to silviculture and forest condition and health.

Kannus focuses on research topics associated with its location in the Ostrobothnia area

Eastern Finland Regional UnitJoensuu is the central of the regional unit.Other research units are Punkaharju, Suonenjoki and Nurmes.

The Joensuu Research Units goal is to promote and to develop regional economic and enterprise activities based on forests and forestry products, especially in Eastern Finland.

The Punkaharju Research Unit is internationally famous for its research on forest genetics. Management of exotic tree species and special trees is also studied here.

The Suonenjoki research unit has established for forest tree nursery studies and forest regeneration studies. It is also responsible for inspection the biological efficiency and applicability of all the pesticides to be used in forestry.

Northern Finland Regional UnitThe central of Regional Unit is Rovaniemi. Other research units are Kolari, Muhos, Pallasjärvi, Paljakka and Salla.

The Rovaniemi Research Unit specializes in research on forests and forest ecosystems in the north.

The Muhos Research Unit specializes in research on the ecology of forest regeneration and the development of forest management methods for use in the Ostrobothnia-Kainuu region

The Kolari Research Unit focuses on northern timberline forests, especially on the effects of climate change on forests in the northernmost part of the country.

Research forest are located in Laanila, Muhos and Kivalo.

Official Tasks• Greenhouse gas reporting• Monitoring of forest health• National forest inventory • Forest statistics• Testing and inspection of pesticides• Timber scaling methods and guidelines• Basis for forest taxation • Forest tree breeding • Monitoring regeneration success in protection

forest area • Forest damage diagnostic and advisory service

Financing• In recent years, the overall budget of the Finnish

Forest Research Institute has been 53 million €, of which about 70% has been direct government funding from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

• Other sources of financing: Academy of Finland, EU programs, Ministry of Environment, Tekes, trusts, foundations, etc.

Publications• Metsätieteen aikakauskirja

series comprising research articles in Finnish and Swedish

• Silva Fennicaa quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of forest science published in English

• Working Papers preliminary research results, proceedings and learned discourses,mainly in Finnish and in English, published in the net

• Dissertationes Forestales forestry dissertations together with Helsinki and Eastern Finland universtities

Thank you

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